First home buyers in Queensland are now eligible for a $20,000.00 Government grant. This is a $5,000.00 increase to what was previously offered to first home buyers. The grant is now known as the First Home Owner Grant and is an initiative by the Queensland Government to assist you in purchasing your first home sooner. To be eligible for the grant, you must be purchasing a new home, buying an off the plan property or buying property to build your new home in Queensland. The contract for the new home or to build the new home must be entered into between 1 July 2016 and 1 July 2017.
The grant is conditional upon you moving into the property, to use it as your principal place of residence, within 1 year of the completion of the transaction and remaining in the property for a continuous period of 6 months. To qualify for the grant, the value of the new home must be less than $750,000.00. To be eligible for the grant the applicants must be at least 18 years of age at the commencement of the eligible transaction. One of the applicants must also be an Australian citizen or a permanent resident at the time of applying for the grant.
Applicants are only eligible for the grant if they or their spouse have never received the grant or another similar grant in Australia. To qualify for the grant, the applicant and their spouse
must never have owned a residential property either jointly, separately or with some other person before 1 July 2000 in Australia. Each applicant and their spouse will not be eligible if they occupied a residential property in which they acquired a relevant interest from 1 July 2000 in Australia.
First Home Transfer Duty Concession
As a first home buyer you are able to claim a concession on the transfer duty payable. For homes valued at $500,000.00 or less, the transfer duty payable will be nil. For first homes valued between $500,000.00 – $550,000.00 a concession will apply but will be dependent on the price. If the home is valued more than $550,000.00 then no first home duty concession will apply but you will still be able to apply for a home concession. For the first home concession you must not have held an interest in residential land anywhere in the world. If you are applying for either the first home or home concession, you must occupy the residence as your home within 1 year of the transfer date.
First Home Vacant Land Transfer Duty Concession
If you are building your first home, you may be able to claim a concession on the transfer duty of the land. The vacant land must be less than $400,000.00 to receive a concession. If the vacant land is valued at less than $250,000.00 then no transfer duty will be payable but for land priced between $250,000.00 – $399,000.00 the concession rate will vary. It is required that you must build your first home on the vacant land and you are restricted to only building 1 home on the parcel. You must occupy the residence as your principal place of residence within 2 years of the transfer date. Again to be eligible for this concession you must not have held an interest in residential land anywhere in the world
For all 3 of the transfer duty concessions you must not dispose of the land either before you occupy the residence as your home or within 1 year after you start to occupy the residence as your home. To be eligible for any of these concessions you must be at least 18 years.
It is an exciting time for first home buyers in Queensland with the Government offering such good incentives to purchase or build their new homes. We are unsure what will happen with first home owners grant after 1 July 2017, whether it will go back to $15,000.00, remain the same or be completely removed. Now is the perfect time for first home buyers to start looking to build or purchase their first home.
If you have any questions or would like to discuss the purchase of your first new home, please contact our office on 07 3876 5111. We offer a no obligation consultation for first home buyers.
Written by
Jonathan Mamaril, Principal & Director,
NB Lawyers – the Lawyers for Employers
(with the assistance of Kayleigh Whittaker, Lawyer)
07 3876 5111
[email protected]